Quiz on 1599: Prologue

(For sources, you should also refer to the bibliographical essay about this chapter in back of the book)

• How do we know how cold it was on December 27-28, 1598?
• What weapons did the crowd that gathered brandish? Why didn't they have clubs?
• From which two places could a Londoner obtain such weapons at this time?
• Why might local spectators have been confused at the crowd that gathered on December 27-28, 1598?
• Why was the company, and the Burbage familyl in particular, in financial trouble?
• Which five sharers (or share-holders) of the Lord Chamberlain's Men did Burbage approach?
• What did Burbage propose to the five sharers? What were the risks and potential benefits?
• What sort of time constraints did the crowd that gathered on December 27-28, 1598 have?
• How do we know who watched the activities of December 27-28, 1598?
• What did Shakespeare stand to lose if the gathering crowd's efforts did not succeed?
• By what evidence can we theorize where the crowd stored the spoils of their effort?
• How many plays did Shakespeare probably write between 1594 and 1598?
• Shapiro says that Londoners' appetite for plays had never been greater than it was in 1596-8. How do we know?
• Name two other playwrights working in 1599. What are two things that all 15 or so of them have in common?
• Name two players that got in trouble for using swords or rapiers outside of the theater.
• Name two factors that might have led to the decision by the Privy Council in summer 1597 to "pluck down" theaters in which anyone acted that summer.
• What are two losses experienced by Shakespeare and his company from 1596-1598?
• What was the popular style associated with theater in the northern suburbs? Who was its greatest practitioner?
• In 1596-8,what kind of work was Shakespeare best known for?
• Who wrote Palladis Tamia? What's significant about it?
• What might be some reasons why Shakespeare portrayed Lord Cobham's ancestor, Sir John Oldcastle, as a "riotous glutton"?
• When asked to repair the damage down by his portrayal of Sir John Oldcastle in Henry IV, what was Shakespeare's response?
• Even though Shakespeare renamed his character Sir John Oldcastle, court insiders knew who the character was modeled on. How do we know?
• In the winter of 1598-9, what neighborhood did Shakespeare move to?
• What two primary source documents help us to conclude which playwrights worked collaboratively at this time?